Road Trip! South of the Border

This was our first attempt at a long distance road trip with the kids. Philadelphia to Orlando. Just over 1,000 miles. One thing's for sure, the DVD player helped A LOT. We left the Philly area around 11pm on Election Night, and drove through the night, into the early morning hours making it all the way to Rocky Mount, NC, (about 400 miles,) where we stopped for the night, well, morning really. The kids slept most of the way.

 I managed to sneak in a few hours sleep myself in a warm bed, but then it was back on the road around noon, stopping a few hours later at South of the Border in Dillon, SC. You start seeing the signs hours earlier in North Carolina, beginning the mileage countdown all the way there. The one thing they had this time that I hadn't noticed before, was a giant game room. This was great, especially the Bounce House. There was hardly anyone there, and the kids were able to blow off steam in the bounce house for as long as they wanted. We also played Skee Ball, Basketball, and Foosball.

Evan and Eliana loved the giant gumball machine. We had to keep the whole trip a secret because we were driving down to surprise my Mom for her Birthday!

Eliana and Mommy playing some Basketball.

Then we visited the "Hats Around the World" Store, and we had fun trying on all sorts of different hats. Here's Evan posing with a Sombrero wearing Velociraptor.

Guess which one is the dinosaur?

Señor Evan.

Cowgirl Eliana.

Finally, we meet Pedro!

Evan and Triceratops.

One of the coolest parts of South of the Border was the new "Reptile Lagoon." Not quite a zoo, but rivals most zoos reptile pavilions in size. There were dozens of different types of Alligators, Crocodiles, and Snakes. Needless to say, Mommy and Eliana stayed in the car, just the boys went. Evan and I had a blast. There was one baby Croc who was not to happy about me taking his picture and came flying at me with his mouth open ready to attack. Luckily, it was in a tank, and only about 3 feet long, but all Croc in spirit. After that, it was time to hit the road again. Next stop: Disney World.

No photographs please. Now back away from my tank.